--- title: Prince Dead: How He Changed the Music Business description: He was the first mega-selling "slave" to escape the clutches of the major labels canonical: https://time.com/4303977/prince-dead-music-business-pioneer/ author: Steve Knopper article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-21T20:31:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:28.861Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Prince Dead: How He Changed the Music Business og:description: He was the first mega-selling artist to escape the clutches of the major labels og:url: https://time.com/4303977/prince-dead-music-business-pioneer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b7a08b2724937f0/69889041196cf41d3003b4ea/prince-slave.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: PRINCE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Dead: How He Changed the Music Business twitter:description: He was the first mega-selling artist to escape the clutches of the major labels twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b7a08b2724937f0/69889041196cf41d3003b4ea/prince-slave.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Prince Pioneered the Future of the Music Biz > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Steve Knopper](https://time.com/author/steve-knopper/) ## Steve Knopper Apr 21, 2016 8:31 PM UTC  Prince, with the word "Slave" written across his face is shown performing in New York's Rockefeller Plaza on July 9, 1996. Prince, with the word "Slave" written across his face is shown performing in New York's Rockefeller Plaza on July 9, 1996.Richard Drew—AP by [Steve Knopper](https://time.com/author/steve-knopper/) ## Steve Knopper Apr 21, 2016 8:31 PM UTC At the time, in the ’90s, [Prince](http://time.com/4303558/prince-dead-paisley-park-57/?1&xid=homepage) seemed crazy. He’d written “SLAVE” on the side of his face and insisted the Warner Bros. contract under which he’d sold 100 million albums had turned him into a prisoner. But he turned out to be a pioneer, one of the first major pop stars ever to crack the modern record-label deal, negotiating his freedom in order to show how prolific he was. That year, he released the three-disc, 36-song _Emancipation_, which didn’t sell like his Warner hits but allowed him to keep the profits for himself. Over the past decade, artists from the Eagles to Wilco to Beck have done exactly that. More than just about any other musician, Prince predicted the Internet, setting up a 1-800-NEW-FUNK hotline to sell albums and merchandise, correctly calculating he could make far more millions off his concert tours than the album sales he shared with Warner Bros. “You see what’s going on in the industry,” Londell McMillan, his attorney at the time, told Forbes, “and you have to ask yourself, is this artist the kind of mercurial crazy some people say, or is he the wise one who understands where he fits at the start of a new century?” In 1997, releasing _Crystal Ball_, he was one of the first artists to accept Internet pre-orders. Later he sold several albums through his NPG Music Club online. ### See Prince’s Life in Photos  Prince performs at the Bottom Line on Feb. 15, 1980 in New York City. Waring Abbott—Getty Images  Prince performs on Saturday Night Live on Feb. 21, 1981. Alan Singer—Getty Images  Prince performs onstage at the Palladium on Dec. 2, 1981 in New York City. Waring Abbott—Getty Images  Prince in 1982. ullstein bild/Getty Images  Prince attends the premiere of Purple Rain on July 26, 1984 in Hollywood, Calif. Ron Galella—Getty Images  Promotional still for Purple Rain, 1984. Warner Bros. Pictures  Prince in Under the Cherry Moon, 1986. Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection  Prince and the Revolution perform on Aug. 17, 1986 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Rob Verhorst—Getty Images  Prince performs at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 5, 1991 in Los Angeles. Frank Micelotta Archive—Getty Images  Prince Charles, right, talks with Prince, left, at the "Diamonds are Forever" celebration on June 9, 1999 in London. Dave Hogan—AP  Beyoncé, right, and Prince perform at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, 2004 in Los Angeles. Frank Micelotta—Getty Images  From left: Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison and Prince perform during The 19th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York City on March 15, 2004\. Prince was inducted into the Hall of Fame that evening. Dimitrios Kambouris—Getty Images  Prince arrives with his former wife Manuela Testolini for the 77th Academy Awards on Feb. 27, 2005 in Los Angeles. Kevork Djansezian—AP  Prince performs during the American Idol Season 5 Finale on May 24, 2006 in Hollywood, Calif. Vince Bucci—Getty Images  Prince performs during half-time at Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007 in Miami, Fla. Roberto Schmidt—AFP/Getty Images  Prince performs during half-time at Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007 in Miami, Fla. Jonathan Daniel—Getty Images  Sheila E and Prince perform on June 1, 2007 in Pasadena, Calif. Kevin Winter—Getty Images  Prince with comedian Dave Chappelle at the 2007 NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 18, 2007 in Las Vegas. Andrew D. Bernstein—Getty Images  Prince during the 2015 American Music Awards on Nov. 22, 2015 in Los Angeles. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images For a long time, it seemed like everything Prince Inc. did was as beautiful and perfect as “Raspberry Beret.” He gave away copies of _Musicology_ with tickets to his 2004 tour, then grossed $88 million in concert sales, more than Celine Dion or Madonna. He signed one-album distribution deals with major labels rather than giving them the long-term rights to his music, and wound up with a No. 1 hit in 2006, _3121_. He gave away 2 million copies of _Planet Earth_ with newspapers in a 2007 U.K. promotion. Then he abruptly realized that the rampant online piracy he’d largely danced around would affect his bottom line, too. He sued The Pirate Bay, an illegal Swedish file-sharing service, for violating his copyrights, and in 2010 called the Internet “completely over.” Suddenly, it was impossible to find even a glimmer of a Prince song, recorded or live, via YouTube, in part because he’d cracked down on smartphone cameras in concert. Last year, after the launch of Apple Music, Prince pulled his entire catalog from all the major streaming services. And not just his music: You can’t find the Cyndi Lauper or Mitch Ryder versions of “When You Were Mine.” By way of explanation, Prince offered a familiar refrain: Blame the record industry. Labels took advantage of artists by signing lucrative content deals with streaming services, then didn’t share profit. “You just have to blow it up,” he said. “That’s what it’s going to take.” It seemed extreme, but he was Prince. 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